Photography Contact Sheets

Photoshop Montage & Reflection

Through Elijah's Eyes by Sofia Tiu

Photoshop CC - February 20 2015

TECHNICAL
I used many technical steps during my photoshop montage experience. One of the most common technicalities I faced the variety of size of all my images. Using the transform tool and adjusting the size of my images was simple, but challenging for my mind-set. I also experimented frequently with a variety of layer blends, my images layer blends range from darken to vivid light. I also fiddled around with the opacity/fill settings, deciding how transparent and opaque I wished the image would be.

I also learned how to use the cloning stamp, patch, and content aware tools. The cloning tool allows you to pick a certain distance and will copy whatever is within distance. The patch allows you to select a patch of the image and drag it onto the surface of what you wish for it to blend into. The content aware tool allows you the have the background to be programmed into what it is around it, which can be very useful for large grass or greenery backgrounds.

One last thing that I learned to do was free transforming images and warping them a certain way. Experimenting with certain filters in class, I was able to warp my images so they can be transformed to look a certain way. I warped the footprints, shadow, skateboard and swing set in my montage. All images were very flat and I warped them to look like they were at a certain angle or position, i.e. I warped the shadow so it looked like the shadow was truly on the ground, not as a shadow directly behind the people.

IDEA OR CONCEPT
The ideas that I eventually used in my montage were: the focus on the people and all the images were related to Elijah's likes and dislikes, as a warped perspective of a child's eyes. Even though I tossed away some of my previous ideas, I knew for certain that I wanted to keep the idea that the montage is centred around Elijah's likes.

As I said previously, many of my ideas were tossed away and I thought of some more, but they never made it to the final product. One of my ideas that I didn't use was the background was supposed to be a swing and as it stretched through the canvas, it disintegrated into my many objects which I was going to place on the other side of the canvas, opposite swing. I decided to not to pursue this idea because I wasn't sure how I would have accomplished it and I assumed that it was much too complicated for my skill level in Photoshop CC.

INFLUENCES
In all honesty, I was not influenced by any professional artists. I did not take influence of famous montage work, however the idea seems very appealing now! If it counts, I did take inspiration from my fellow classmates who are amateur media artists, where they did help inspire me to put continuous effort into my montage.

COMPOSITION
The type of composition I intended to have was asymmetrical. On the left side, there is one to three images, meanwhile on the right there are many more images. About nine to ten images are on the right side. I intended to have an asymmetrical composition because I wanted to emphasize the people on the left and make the images seem like they're what the child sees as he walks by.

My intention for my eyes to move was more like a square or a rounded movement. My focus is the people and the blue swirls lead the eye movement upwards. Once the eye hits the bright green eye, the crayon border and the subtle white birds in the background will lead the movement towards the right. Once headed towards the right, there are images of child's doodles which will continue moving the eyes towards the right. Once reaching the very right, the crayons begin to fully form and the tips of the crayons lead downwards. Once going downwards, it leads towards a swing set. On every swing, I connected a separate image as if the swing were like ropes that attached the image to the movement. I also added a layer blended white outline of a car, which faces downwards which also helps with the downward movement. Once following the line of books, sports balls, hands, it leads to a skateboard and footprints. Following the skateboard and footprints, it leads back to the main focus of the people.

MOTIVATION
My personal motivation for the work was to reflect upon the summer-time experiences. On a very personal note, I'm an extremely sensitive person. I believe the Chinese folklore of the, 'red string of fate,' not to the exact literal sense. The red string of fate is a folklore where people believed that you were attached to your soulmate by an invisible red string. The red string could not be broken, but simply stretched or tangled. In a sense, I believe that Elijah and I were connected by fate. By no means do I mean that Elijah and I are soulmates, but I do believe we were destined to have encountered one another. By reflecting on how much of an impact he's made of my life, it definitely helps believe that our fate always surprises us to no end.

CRITICAL ASSESSMENT
The most successful part of my montage that I believe are my technical abilities for each of the image. I believe that I successfully blended all of them into my background with a sense of unity and smoothness. I also believe that I have a great colour scheme as well. As I emphasized the blue sky, I also added some orange texture at the foreground because they're complementary colours. This way, the orange and the blue can emphasize each other which also unites the montage.

The one thing that surprised me the most was how difficult this assignment was going to be. I'm not a completely artsy student, but I have learned some artistic abilities in Grade 9 Visual Arts last year. I didn't expect myself to struggle a lot with this assignment, but I genuinely did. I also find that it's extremely difficult to alter the sizes of the images to your own personal liking, but also blending it into the montage. I found that I automatically made the images generally the same size, which greatly affected my montage.

With additional time, I would have greatly changed my work. Also, I believe that with additional time and more experience with Photoshop CC, I would have had a more quality montage. I believe with more experience and more time, I think I would have accomplished more of my ideas that I wished to pursue. I also believe that I couldn't find the ideal images that I wished to have used. Many of my images were the most ideal out of the image search, however they were not the ones I would imagine to have used.

BRAINSTORM - Memories In My Skin

Brainstorm List:

• Week in Florida
• Month in Philippines
• Volunteering at Summer camp with Elijah (represents green)
• Volunteering at Summer camp with Nick (represents blue)
• School in general
• Beach trips during the summer
• Bike rides in the trails
• Disney World
• Universal Studios
• Struggling with self-image

My Buddy, Elijah

His eyes. His eyes became my kryptonite. To this day, I will never see another pair of gorgeous with the mesmerizing glint I saw in him. His eyes were a kaleidoscope of green shades that pierced deep into your heart. Shadowing his eyes were long, protruding eyelashes, which framed his eyes like a doll. From the moment I first introduced myself to this young, six-year old boy, I knew I was gone.

Annually, I dedicate 2-4 weeks of my life to volunteering at the local playground summer camp. Living right across the street, my heart felt obligated to assist and frolic through the green trees. Volunteering at playground came with two options: playground assistant or one-on-one buddy. for two years, I have been a buddy for kids with developmental disabilities, but none have caught my heart like Elijah.

My first impression of Elijah, was that kid is a charmer. Whether or not he aware of it himself, he could sweep anyone off their feet. Knowing that I was fortunate enough to spend two full weeks of summer camp with Elijah, I was immediately overjoyed. My buddy himself, Elijah- was a bundle of joy himself. He wasn't like any other I've ever met. He interacted with other children. He charmed his way through playground leaders. He co-operated fully with every ounce of effort he could muster with his tiny body. He enjoyed swimming and looked forward to spending an hour in the recreational pool every day. Elijah was a gleaming ray of sunshine- lighting up everyone's day with his cheerful eyes.

The problem with Elijah did not occur to me, seemingly harmless and minor enough that I was not alerted about it. My assumption of Elijah's developmental disability was mild ADHD due to his low attention span and his extreme levels of energy. Soon enough, it was a gloomy, rainy day. The rain drenched everyone who stood outside. Elijah's mood was drenched as well. The abrupt change in the environment and plans of the day affected Elijah, too much for him to bare. His actions become abrasive and violent, while his screams pierced through the thick cement walls of the recreational centre. After soothing Elijah to regain his composure, comfortingly wiping his tears- it became clear to me. My sweet, little Elijah has autism.

After consulting with playground leaders due to their withdrawing of information, I was told the purpose. Their reasoning was so that I would not give Elijah any special treatment which would make him aware of having a developmental disability. My heart shattered for the boy and I immediately realized the intentions of the camp leaders. Autism does not define who Elijah is, or the person he is growing to become.

My love and compassion for Elijah grew throughout the two weeks I spent as his buddy. My awareness of developmental disability has expanded beyond its previous horizons. Whether or not someone I know has been diagnosed with autism or ADHD; they are a human being. They are not autistic, they are a person with autism. Developmental disabilities does not define who someone is and it's inconsiderate to refer as someone by the developmental disability.

Through Elijah's sparkling green eyes is a symbolic meaning through his own view of the world. Children that have autism are not mentally retarded, they simply view the world in a different perspective than those who don't. With Elijah's glistening green eyes, he takes on the world, one blink at a time. One step at a time. My little friend Elijah has inspired me to believe that everyone views the world in a different view. Elijah's eyes have changed me for the better- imagining the world through the perspective of innocent green eyes.

Nine of Me

Photoshop Layer Blends

Photoshop Brush Scene